Sunday...

We have had a good Sunday.

Today would have been my Nana's 100th birthday. It is her first birthday in heaven. I told Jason this morning this was the first July 31st since I could talk that I have not called her and told her "happy birthday." I am sure spending your birthday with Jesus is pretty amazing...but it still makes me a little sad that she isn't here celebrating it with us.

I got the sweetest card in the mail yesterday from a precious lady at our church...thank you, Mrs. Kay! I truly believe that Mrs. Kay is an angel...we have been so blessed by her in so many ways. She knew my Nana's birthday was today and thought I might have been feeling a little sad. She knows me well.

In memory of my Nana, we let 100 balloons go today. It was really sweet. Watching those balloons disappear into the clouds today was so peaceful. Her favorite color was pink, so there were lots of pink balloons *Ü*

We are looking forward to a good week...our last week before school starts!!

My Sweet Girls...

She Makes Me Laugh...

Painting, A Horse, and Thank You Notes

The girls decided they wanted to paint today. I love listening to the little conversations they have while painting. Macy finished up her babushka dolls...

And Lucy finished up her bird house (notice the sun with bows...you know I was loving that!)...

Lucy played with my grandmother's earrings, some tarnished silver beads of mine (that are now broken and all over my closet floor) and some orange plasic sunglasses with the lenses popped out.

As I have said before, Macy is obsessed with horses. She searches for books about horses on her Nook daily. She draws horses, looks up horses on the internet, and looks for pictures of them in magazines. Constantly. Today, she created her own horse...using a gym mat, a blanket, a stick horse, and curly ribbon for the tail and the bridle. And she rode the horse all over the house all day long. She made a stable for it and would tie it up. Her imagination makes my heart happy. She was so into it that you would have thought it was a real horse.

And she even wore her "riding" clothes...khaki pants, a longsleeve shirt, and cowgirl boots.

The tail...

Our church offers several classes on Sundays before our evening worship service. During the summer, the children's class has been all about learning manners. It is awesome! I can really tell a difference in the "yes mams" and "no mams" and "thank yous" and "no thank yous." Last night, they learned how to write a thank you note. Lucy's age designed their own card and told the teacher what to write on the back...

Macy's thank you note was very sweet. But I will have to say, when I read the part that said "Mama: thank you for birthing me," it cracked me up. That is SO Macy.

I birthed her and I feed her...aren't I the best Mama ever? Ha!

Signs on a Sunday

One of our dear friends from church is going to spend a weekend doing prison ministry. I am a bit jealous (I know "jealous" and is probably not the appropriate word when talking about a ministry, but you know what I mean) because I have a passion welling up for prison ministry. I don't know why, and I can't explain it, but the passion is there.

This friend asked me several weeks ago if the girls and I would make some signs that would be placed around the particular prison he would be going to. This was right up our alley, since we love crafting, we love Jesus, and we want others to love Jesus too.

We had a fun afternoon of making signs and coloring and talking about how much Jesus loves everybody...not just the people who went to church this morning or the people who are "good"...he loves EVERYBODY. I want my children to understand this so that they will hopefully go through their lives judging less and loving more.
Hope you all had a happy Sunday. We sure did!

I Felt Like Donna Reed...

I used to think that cooking on Sunday must be a sin because growing up, we ate lunch out every Sunday after church. However now that I have my own family, while going out to eat for Sunday lunch is nice every once in awhile, we prefer to come home and eat...it makes for a longer afternoon inbetween morning church and night church. And we get to change out of our Sunday clothes and get comfy. We never eat anything really fancy on Sundays...either leftovers or we might pick something up and bring it home.

I decided last night to put a roast in the crockpot and have a homecooked Sunday lunch for today. And if in fact it is a sin to cook on Sundays...well I saved myself from that one because I started it Saturday night *Ü*

This is a super simple and very plain, but very yummy roast. I thought I would post the recipe (if only for myself!). I am the world's worst at throwing something together in the crockpot, having it turn out fabulous, and then forgetting what I did. So here is my super easy crockpot roast recipe (thanks to my super cool brother-in-law, Brian, who is a great cook and walked me through the process step by step)...

2 1/2 to 3 lb roast

salt & pepper

worcestershire sauce

soy sauce

1 lb bag of baby carrots

3 (or so) onions, quartered

7 packets cheap, brown gravy mix

Place roast in crockpot. Salt and pepper to taste. Pour on worcestershire sauce and soy sauce to taste (I use more worcestershire than soy). Add carrots and onion chunks. Whisk together gravy packets with 6 cups of hot water (use half the water if you want thicker gravy) and pour over roast. Set crockpot on low and cook for 12 hours.

I got really fancy and fixed some boxed mashed potatoes to go with it *Ü* Does microwaving mashed potatoes count as cooking? I sure hope not!

A Mix of Things...

If we are in town and picking up something for lunch, Macy or Lucy always want McDonalds. I am not anti-McDonalds (I mean, every once in awhile is okay), but it is not my favorite place to eat. Right now the happy meals have Strawberry Shortcake dolls in them...the kind that even smell yummy. I am a sucker for Strawberry Shortcake dolls (so maybe the little boy at the park was right when he called me a sucker??). We have had more than our normal share of McDonalds the past few weeks because these dolls are just so cute...

We had my nephew's birthday party to attend this morning, then we spent the rest of the day around the house. Macy and Lucy did manicures and pedicures... And I finally got my crosses hung on the front doors! The other day, Lucy told me we needed to try "that stuff that has hazlenuts in it and skim milk." I racked my brain trying to figure out what in the world she was talking about, when it hit me she was talking about Nutella. I had never even tasted Nutella, so I bought her some when we went to the store today. Oh my, it is delicious! I think I have found a new snack...animal crackers dipped in Nutella. Yummy!!

I bought some vidalia onions today at the store for one of my favorite summer time treats...
Hope you all had a happy Saturday!

Friday

I got my girls back this morning. Funny thing is, after missing all the noise yesterday, I found myself telling them to settle down and not be quite so loud within 5 minutes. Okay, maybe not that quickly, but you Mamas know what I am talking about.

I needed Lucy in the kitchen this afternoon, so I called for her. And called for her. And called for her and called for her and called for her. No Lucy. I went looking for her and only had to make about 3 steps when I saw this sight...

Upon closer inspection, I realized why she wasn't responding to my call... We spent a good part of the evening (thanks to my storebought lasagna that took a whole hour and 55 minutes to cook!!) outside jumping on the trampoline...
We were sweaty hot messes in no time! Macy and Lucy have just been at each other all day long. I am sure it has a little to do with the fact that they stayed up late last night and woke up really early this morning...or at least I sure hope it does! I had some leftover cookies and icing, so I made them a little treat for dessert tonight... I'd probably become rich if they really worked (I know lots of ya'll that would quickly order up!), but I'll have to admit...they did not. Oh well. I tried!

On Mice and (Rude Little) Men

On mice...

This "Strange Addictions" show...have ya'll seen it? I think it came out last year...we watched it some (the lady who ate Comet, the girl who tanned 3 times a day), but didn't get too interested in it. I mean, I just don't find it pleasant to watch a girl eat cigerette ashes from every ashtray she sees...ga-ross. And the way my teeth start hurting when I watch people eat clay flower pots...oh the horrors. However, Macy is not grossed out by anything. She will watch "Animal Cops" while eating lunch...nothing bothers her...I guess that is a good thing since she want to be a vet one day. She wanted to watch it the other night, so I thought I'd see how long I could tolerate it. It was an episode about a lady with a bunch of rats and a lady who had been growing her nails for 22 years...and it showed her eating crab legs!!!! While the nails weren't pleasant at all, the rat part was just plain disgusting...I had to turn my head. It got worse from there on the 2nd episode, so we just had to turn it off. Nasty, nasty.

The only CUTE rat/mouse I know of is the one that lives in an oversized match box in Lucy's room...

***And just for clairty's sake, this is NOT a real mouse!!***

On (Rude Little) Men...

The girls are spending the night with my parents tonight. I met my parents for lunch, and the girls went home with them from there. It is SO quiet in my house. I don't like quiet too much...I would much rather be hearing 2 noisy little girls than being at home by myself, but I figure I better get used to a little bit of quiet time since Lucy is about to start school. You'd think I would get so much done around the house when the girls aren't home, but it is really quite opposite. I tend to get NOTHING done when they aren't here. Weird, I know, but true.

So anyways, I call Jason on my way home, and he suggests that I go up to the park and do my jogging since we planned on going out to eat tonight. I thought that sounded like a good idea, although I do MUCH better at jogging late at night. But oh well, I was all alone, and it made sense to go on and get it over with. When I got there, I noticed a family doing some joy-walking (a mama, a daddy, and 3 children). The kids were jumping on and off the track, walking backwards, etc. So I am doing my few minutes of warmup walking, and I notice the family has stopped at one of the little play areas...that is all except one little boy who looked to be the age of 5. He is throwing rocks about 10 at a time into a little mud puddle. I am approaching him and thinking to myself how cute he is...he really was an adorable little boy. All of a sudden, he lunges back onto the walking track, turns to me and hollers (and I mean HOLLERS LOUD), "Bye bye, suckerrrrrrrrr!" I am thinking to myself...I know that kid did NOT just call me a sucker. And then he proceeds to do it again. This time, he turns around and yells it even LOUDER. "Bye bye, suckerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"

Seriously??

At this point I start jogging and leave him behind.

But seriously?? This kid just called me a sucker??

I can't wait to get my silly girls back in the morning! I miss them!!

Wednesday

I can't tell you how many times this summer the girls have told me that I need "pajama jeans" or I have heard them repeating commercials word for word. Really, my kids do not sit in front of the t.v. all the time, but I won't lie...they have watched a fair share this summer. Bless their hearts, they are very limited in what they watch, though. There is just too much sassiness and drama and downright crudeness on Disney and Nickelodeon these days.

This morning, I needed to be in the kitchen...so in my efforts to keep them from finding yet another product that I might need (one day Lucy told me I needed Proactiv), I set them up at the table with water colors. They had a ball. A little water, a couple of brushes, some paper, and a set of water color paints...they were happy!

This picture wasn't drawn today, but since we are on the subject of art...this is one of Macy's most recent masterpieces. She drew it on the back of a children's menu during our trip to the beach. I will never ever throw it away. She is obsessed with everything horses...she reads about them, googles them, and draws picture after picture of them. Since the table was turned into an art studio, we had lunch in the playroom. They love having lunch at their little table and chairs. Notice Lucy pulled out more of her tomotoes for the centerpiece (and yes, they are still in their pajamas)... There was once a restaraunt in our town called "Two Bits." If you are from my hometown, do you remember it? Oh my...it was a kids' dream...half of the building was an arcade room. You got to play games with special coins while you were waiting for your food. Mary Lynn...you will remember this as the place where I upchucked all over you *Ü* Anyways...my favorite thing on their menu was grilled cheese with pepperoni. It was delicious, and is still one of my favorite things to eat. While there is no "Two Bits" anymore, I make them for myself every once in awhile at home...it is very much one of my comfort foods. When I make grilled cheeses for the girls, Macy always wants hers plain, but Lucy is a girl after her Mama's heart...she enjoys hers with pepperoni.

My sister has moved. Again. I texted her the other day and told her I had 3 different addresses for her in my 2010-2011 MomAgenda. We loved her being in Baton Rouge, but now she is back in Texas...a loooooooooooong way from us. Hopefully (I am praying REAL hard) she will be back in Birmingham in a year or two, but who knows. During this last move, Macy and Lucy inherited a t.v. from her. Can I tell you how excited they were? We decided we would put it in Lucy's room, since that is where they sleep together every night (yep, still doing good with that!). Jason kept forgetting to pick up a cable cord, so last night, Lucy left him a note that simply said "CABLE." You better believe he brought one home this evening.

Note to self...if I need something done, get the girls to leave Jason a reminder note...seems he can't resist their sweet little writing. We had to do a little rearranging in her bedroom to make room for the t.v. It's nice, though, because the top of her little chest of drawers is not as cluttered now. I hung a picture frame on the wall that used to sit where the lamp is now...one of my favorite baby pictures of Lucy ever... The girls enjoyed laying in bed and watching a few minutes of t.v. before going to sleep. I think it will be nice at times. As long as I can keep them from watching infomercials *Ü*

Tuesday...

The girls and I had big plans this morning...we were going to make home-made poptarts. Poptarts are one of my girls' favorite foods. I ran across a recipe and have had it bookmarked for forever, so this morning was going to be the morning. We got in the kitchen early (Jason thinking..."Early? Hahahahahaha!") and got to work. Well, let me tell you...it didn't work. I read the recipe a hundred times and thought I was doing everything right. Everything turned out wrong. After 45 minutes, we had flour all over the kitchen and a couple of blops of runny, sticky dough...not good.

We decided to just go with the real thing... I finally put the finishing touches on my whimsical crosses and sprayed them with lacquer. They are ready to be hung on my front doors...hopefully I get that done this week...
My crosses were inspired by this project I did last Spring. It is my favorite frontdoor project of all times! Back in highschool, I had a blue Pontiac grand am. Oh, how I loved that car. It was my first car...I got it when I turned 15. It even had a c.d. player...and a cell phone bolted into it. And the turbo tech tires made me the envy of town...haha! Growing up, we lived off of one of the main highways that goes through town. It seemed like they were constantly doing road work on that highway. There were always orange barrels lining the roads. One day, a big fat red fuzzy ant (you know the kind?) was in my car...I didn't notice the ant until it was crawling on my steering wheel towards my hand. I lost it. Totally lost it. And before I knew it, there were orange and white barrels flying everywhere...above me, to the side...all around me. Because I had hit them! It looked like a warzone when I got through there...I was mortified! I laughed at the memory when I was outside spraying my crosses and saw this (right next to the column)... And totally random, but I know ya'll think I am crazy for all of the ironing I do. Here's proof that ironing can be hazardous for your health...Yes, that is my arm. And yes, it hurts! Bad!

Jason brought home some watermelon for us today. His Dad had picked up one and cut it up at the office...and painstakingly picked out every last seed in the pieces he sent home for us. Jason walked in the door with the container, and I tell you, that watermelon was all gone in about 2.2 seconds. It was so good.

Speaking of Jason's Dad...my father-in-law knows me well. He knows that I love me some dark chocolate Raisinets, and he always picks me up a box when he sees them. He also knows that my children attack my box and eat them before I hardly get them unwrapped. Well...the other day...he brought me not 1, not 2, not even 3...but 4 boxes of them! I was in dark chocolate Raisinet heaven! The girls ate one box, and I hid the rest *Ü*

Jason is playing church league softball, and they had their first game tonight. Those guys tickle me at how much fun they have. I love to embarrass Jason and holler chants from my softball days...you know...Homerun hit it hit it, homerun hit it hit, H-O-M-E-R, H-O-M-E-R-U-N! It embarrasses my kids too *Ü*

***And before I forget...Leslie B...you left a comment on my post about putting my purse in my refrigerator...I miss your blog!! Will you please e-mail me at shannonwillcutt@yahoo.com? I have a couple of questions for you! Thanks!!***

Getting Ready for Kindergarten!

We had an appoinment for Lucy to meet with her principal this morning. Lucy was really excited about this meeting...she is SO excited about starting school. The meeting went very well...it was basically just an informative meeting mainly for me to ask any questions I had and get me familiar with their kindergarten program. We are not at the same school where Macy was for kindergarten, so of course things are a little different. We got to see the kindergarten classrooms...which are so cute and fun and colorful. I think Lucy wanted to stay right then.

After our appoinment, we went to find Lucy a backpack. She was soooooo excited to find this one with owls...

We spent our afternoon at our church with the senior ladies. They were having a movie day, so we joined them for popcorn, candy, and a movie. I love being around kids...I think that is my ministry in the church for now...but I tell you...I love, love, love the senior ladies like crazy. They are so special.

After the movie, we headed home to do normal around-the-house stuff. Lucy enjoyed some tomatoes my Mom grew for her (she eats them like candy)...

I am a mushy Mama (which comes as no surprise to most of you!). I'll be honest, I am a little sad (okay...VERY sad) about Lucy starting kindergarten in a couple of weeks. I mean, truth be told, I am just all around sad that summer is coming to an end...I always am a little sad sending Macy back to school. We love being laid-back and doing whatever we want and not being on any kind of schedule. However, I had a conversation about my sadness at church on Sunday night with a friend of mine...one who is older than me and more experienced (she has grandchildren). She will tell it like it is...no fluff and if she hurts your feelings so be it...but she tells you what you know you need to hear. She told me it is okay to be a little upset, but if I let my sadness get the best of me, then I am going to miss out on one of the most fun times in life.

So I am excited about Lucy starting kindergarten now...really...I am *Ü*

But there will probably be a tear or two (from me, not her). And I guess that will be okay too!